Hello, everyone! This is Jooyoung Kim, an engineer and music producer.
In this post, I’ll delve into the saxophone and jazz brass, instruments often associated with brass but not classified as such.
Strictly speaking, it’s not exactly orchestration, but since these instruments are used in various contexts, I’ll cover them briefly.
Shall we begin?
Saxophone
The saxophone is a woodwind instrument with a reed similar to a clarinet.
Though classified as a woodwind, its metal construction gives it a metallic timbre, allowing it to blend well with brass instruments.
The Alto and Tenor saxophones are the most commonly used, but there are also Sopranino, Soprano, Baritone, Bass, Contrabass, and Sub Contrabass saxophones.
In jazz brass, typically three out of five instruments are saxophones, which serve well both as solo lead instruments and as harmonic instruments that layer harmonies with brass.
However, due to its piercing sound, like other brass instruments, using it as a harmonic instrument might not always be ideal unless it’s within a brass harmony or a full band tutti.
The saxophone family consists entirely of transposing instruments, typically in Eb and Bb. You can easily understand their notation and range from the above staff notation.
Jazz Brass Ensemble
A typical jazz brass ensemble consists of three to five instruments.
Instruments such as Trumpet (Cornet, Flugelhorn), Horn, Trombone, Tuba (Euphonium), and Saxophone are selected based on their range. Common combinations when using five instruments include:
Depending on their roles, instruments can be substituted, such as replacing the Trumpet with a Soprano Sax, using Baritone or Bass Sax instead of Trombone, or substituting Euphonium for Trombone.
Characteristic Voicing in Jazz Brass
Jazz brass frequently employs three voicing techniques: Quartal, Cluster, and Upper Structure.
Quartal Voicing
Cluster
Upper Structure (Poly Chord)
Quartal voicing builds chords in fourths. Cluster voicing, technically involving three notes in a half-step relationship (e.g., C, C#, D), can broadly include whole-step relationships.
Upper Structure involves splitting the range and playing different chords in each range. It often sounds unpleasant within a single instrument family but creates an intriguingly acceptable sound when divided among different families.
Virtual Instruments for Jazz Brass
Discussing virtual instruments, jazz brass requires meticulous editing even after programming, due to the varying lengths and attacks of the notes. Recommended virtual instruments include Kick Ass Brass, Broadway Big Band (quite expensive), Chris Hein Horns, and SWAM Solo Brass (a modeled instrument).
That’s it for the explanation on jazz brass. I haven’t organized the percussion section yet, but I should do it soon.
Hello! This is Jooyoung Kim, an engineer and music producer. Today, I would like to continue with the basics of orchestration, brass instruments in part two.
This article will primarily cover four instruments: the Horn, Trumpet, Trombone, and Tuba.
Let’s get started!
Horn
The Horn is responsible for the Alto range in the brass family and has the softest sound among all brass instruments. In a woodwind quintet, it is often used alongside the Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon, bridging the timbres of brass and woodwind instruments.
In an orchestral setting, the Horn is usually arranged in pairs or groups of four. When there are four players, the 1st and 3rd players cover the high notes, while the 2nd and 4th players handle the lower notes. In the score, 1st and 2nd, as well as 3rd and 4th, are paired together.
Horn Range (Actual Sound)
The Horn has the widest range among brass instruments, utilizing both the treble and bass clefs. Being a transposing instrument in F, it sounds a perfect fifth lower than written. For clarity, it is commonly notated in the treble clef. When using the bass clef, remember that it sounds a perfect fifth higher than written. Accidentals are used instead of key signatures.
The Horn often carries the melody in the brass section due to its ability to change notes more smoothly than the Trumpet and blend well without overpowering other orchestral instruments. When considering melodic lines in the brass section, the Horn should be your first choice.
A unique technique for the Horn is Hand Stop, where the hand is placed inside the bell to produce notes outside the natural harmonic series. This is notated with a cross (+) and results in a lower pitch than the written note.
Trumpet
The Trumpet covers the Soprano range in the brass family. Historically, it was often used like percussion alongside the Timpani, but in modern times, especially in Jazz, it frequently takes on melodic roles.
Today, the most commonly used Trumpets are in C and Bb. The C Trumpet is non-transposing, sounding as written, while the Bb Trumpet transposes down a whole step. Like the Horn, Trumpets use accidentals instead of key signatures.
Trumpet Range (Actual Sound)
In an orchestra, Trumpets are usually arranged in pairs or groups of three. Their distinct sound and volume make them ideal for tutti sections or moments requiring emphasis.
Brass instruments, including Trumpets, generally avoid stacking harmonies in thirds when used in pairs or more. Instead, they use open intervals like fifths, sixths, sevenths, or octaves. This practice originated from the natural brass instruments which could not easily produce third intervals in the lower register and produced less resonant third intervals in the upper register.
The Trumpet family includes the Cornet, a smaller instrument in Bb. Though it shares the same range as the Trumpet, its tone is different, making it suitable for more agile, intricate music passages.
Trombone
The Trombone is unique among brass instruments for using a slide to adjust pitch and covers the Tenor range. This allows for effective use of techniques like Glissando and Portamento, though it can limit some melodic movements due to physical constraints.
In orchestration, the Trombone typically supports other instruments’ bass lines or enhances resonance rather than carrying the bass or melody alone. It has seven slide positions, each producing specific fundamental notes and their harmonics, from Bb to E.
Tenor Trombone (Actual Sound)
Bass Trombone (Actual Sound)
Commonly used Trombone types include the Tenor Trombone and the Bass Trombone, the latter being used in larger orchestral settings. Unlike the Horn and Trumpet, the Trombone is non-transposing.
Tuba
The Tuba occupies the lowest bass range in the brass family. Its imposing size matches its powerful sound, which can dominate the orchestra or project prominently in large ensembles.
The Tuba is effective in tutti or fortissimo passages, emphasizing the music. It also serves well for bass melodic movements due to its rich harmonics, provided it has sufficient support from other instruments.
Tuba Range (Actual Sound)
The Tuba is a non-transposing instrument in C, and a smaller, tenor-range Bb instrument called the Euphonium is sometimes used as well.
Euphonium
Orchestral Arrangement
In a two-player setup, it is common to have two Trumpets and two Horns. A three-player setup typically includes three Trumpets, four Horns, three Trombones (or two Tenor Trombones and one Bass Trombone), and one Tuba.
In larger setups, the number of Horns usually increases in even numbers, such as six or eight, with other brass instruments being added according to the woodwind arrangement.
This concludes our discussion on classical brass instruments. I hope you found it interesting!
In the next post, I’ll cover Saxophones and Jazz Brass. Stay tuned!
Hi! This is engineer and music producer Jooyoung Kim. Today, following woodwinds, I would like to talk about brass.
Before dealing with brass instruments, brass instruments can be divided into two categories: brass in the classical sense and brass in the modern sense.
Brass of classical orchestra: Horn, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba
Jazz brass: Horn, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba, Saxophone
Therefore, we will deal with the four types of brass used in classical orchestras first, and the modern big band-style jazz brass later.
Brass is literally called brass because the material of the instrument is brass. It has no reeds and is characterized by using lips and several valves or slides to control the sound. (Saxophones have reeds, so in classical music, saxophones are classified as woodwind instruments. In modern Jazz Brass, Saxophones are simply lumped together and called Brass. )
In a traditional orchestra, the Tuba plays the role of the bass, the Trombone the tenor, the Horn the alto, and the Trumpet the soprano.
Valves
In the classical era, because the sound had to be controlled only with a tube without a valve, only the overtones of the natural frequency of the tube could be played.
Accordingly, the performer played with a tube that had a basic tone that suited the orchestra’s composition, and when modulation was needed, the length of the tube was adjusted using tubes called crook.
At this time, notes were controlled only with the lips, so rapid and rapidly changing performances were not often used. In particular, if you look at Mozart’s music, you can see that the Trumpet is used like a percussion instrument along with the Timpani, and the Horn is also often used for sounds that are easy to make in overtones, such as fifth chords or octave playing.
Crook
However, since the length of the pipe could be adjusted using a valve system, the need for these cumbersome crooks was reduced, and relatively fast playing became possible.
In particular, in the Jazz Brass arrangement, this fast performance makes it possible to quickly change chords and create a unique, full sound.
Harmonics
Wind instruments are designed to play natural overtones from birth, so natural overtones sound best. Therefore, it is best to keep natural overtones in mind when writing songs.
Generally, it is difficult to blow the fundamental tone, so start with the second overtone. Playing something like Glissando on a brass instrument is only possible with a series of these overtones.
Mouthpiece & Embouchure
Vibration of air is necessary to produce sound in a tube. In woodwind instruments, the reed plays that role, but in brass instruments, the lips are dropped to vibrate the air. This method of controlling performance with the lips is collectively called Embouchure.
In modern improved instruments, valves can control notes, but not all notes. Therefore, the embouchure is very important because the lips must be able to produce tube overtones.
Slides
Trombone uses slides rather than valves, so it is not easy to change notes quickly, not overtones. Instead, you can play the extremely effective Glissando technique through Slide.
There are a total of 7 stages of Slide, which will be covered separately in the Trombone section.
Mutes
There are various Mutes in brass instruments. It is especially often used on trumpets. Mutes not only attenuate the sound but also change the timbre of brass instruments.
Therefore, if you use mutes like this to weaken the sound when working on an orchestra arrangement, the tone may become sharper and the sound will stick out more, which may work in the opposite direction of what you want.
The five most commonly used Mutes are Straight Mute, Cup Mute, Harmon (Wah-wah) Mute, Plunger Mute, and Bucket Mute.
Mutes that are not made of metal are generally not used in orchestral pieces, but are mainly used in modern or jazz music.
In the score, putting on Mutes is written as Con Sordino, and taking off Mutes is written as Senza Sordino.
That’s all for today, and I will explain Horn, Trumpet, Trombone, and Tuba in the next article. I hope it helps you study.
Hello? This is Jooyoung Kim, a mixing engineer and music producer.
It’s already been almost a month since I wrote Woodwinds(1)… I’ve been so busy these days that I’ve been spending time just thinking about it, but after seeing a comment from a subscriber saying that he was enjoying it and that he was waiting for it, I cheered up and wrote this article… haha.
So, let’s get started right away!
Flute & Piccolo
The flute we generally think of is the Western Concert Flute, which is an instrument based on the key of C. Additionally, the Piccolo is about half the length of the Flute and sounds exactly one octave higher.
Piccolo is a transposing instrument whose notation and actual sound differ by one octave.
In addition, the Alto Flute is also often used. It is a transposed instrument whose actual sound is a full 4 degrees lower than the notated sound, and is also called a G-key instrument.
Flute range
Because the sound of the piccolo is high and small, it is often used together with the flute for doubling, and in most cases, it is not used independently. You can think of it as similar to the relationship between Cello and Contrabass.
The flute is in charge of the soprano among woodwind instruments, so it produces the clearest and highest-pitched sound.
Therefore, in general orchestration, the notes above the lines on the staff are mainly used.
Oboe
Oboe is often made of ebony or rosewood and is dark in color.
It has a very strong melodic character, making it difficult to use as an accompaniment instrument, and its tone is unrivaled. Therefore, in orchestration, when an interesting dissonant interval such as an augmented fourth is required, it is almost always used in the Oboe.
As a side note, in the final exam for the orchestration class at the school I attended, points were deducted if the augmented fourth was placed on another instrument instead of on the oboe…^^;;
Also, it is a double reed instrument that uses two reeds, and one of its characteristics is that it is difficult to play.
English Horn written
English Horn actual sound
The English Horn (Cor Anglais) is the most commonly used Oboe instrument. It is an instrument in the key of F, a perfect fifth lower than the Oboe, and similarly, the actual sound sounds a perfect fifth lower than the notated sound.
Since the length is 1.5 times that of Oboe, if you think about the relationship between frequency and wavelength, you can understand why there is a complete 5 degree difference in sound.
There is a curved pipe called Crook, and the name Cor Anglais comes from the meaning that this Crook has an angle (Anglais).
Clarinet
Clarinet is an instrument created by combining the instruments Clarino and Chalumeau. Therefore, it contains the characteristics of both instruments, and the tones are specially distinguished according to these characteristics.
It has a wide range of sounds and a variety of techniques, so it is used a lot in modern music. The color is not too flashy, so it blends in well with the ensemble and has a good effect.
There are instruments in the key of Bb and key of A, and the A-key Clarinet has a heavier and more profound tone than the Bb. The written pitch below is based on Clarinet on Bb.
In Clarinet, the sound ranges are divided into five categories and given names. The characteristics are different accordingly.
1) Chalumeau: This is the lowest register of the Clarinet and has a profound and lyrical tone.
2) Throat tone: It has a thin and narrow tone as if a foreign substance is stuck in the throat, and is a very vulnerable sound range. Therefore, it is also a vocal range favored by modern music composers.
3) Break: This is the semitone section between Throat Tone and Clarino. It is difficult to trill quickly with a conventional Clarinet. So be careful when you need Trill. These days, there are cases where this has been improved.
4) Clarion, Clarino: This is a stable and melodic part. All playing techniques are possible, and even difficult and fast passages are possible.
5) High Range: The range above that is stable up to G, but if it goes up further, it can sound sharp and irritating. In soft sounds, it can sound similar to a flute. It is used a lot in modern music.
Bass Clarinet written
Bass Clarinet actual sound
In addition, the most commonly used instrument among the Clarinet Family is the Bass Clarinet. The Bass Clarinet sounds one octave lower than the regular Clarinet, and is also a transposition instrument in the key of Bb. Like Flute and Piccolo, it is often used for doubling.
There are two types of transposition notation: the German method, which uses a major 2nd upward, and the French method, which uses a major 9th upward. Most of the time, the French method is used.
Bassoon
Bassoon is an instrument that plays the bass part of a woodwind instrument. Like Cello and Contrabass, Contrabassoon, which doubles in the low notes due to the sound tab, is also often used.
Compared to other instruments responsible for low sounds, the volume is not very loud, and assuming that all the wound tubes are stretched out, it is a very large instrument at 2.95 meters.
Also, like the Oboe, it is a double reed instrument, and is played with a reed attached to the end of a curved tube called a “crock”. Various playing techniques such as Staccato, Double, and Triple Touging are possible, and Tremolo is also effective, but Tremolo above 4 degrees is difficult. Like the Cello, the Tenor staff is also often used.
Because it is not a transposed instrument, the actual sound and notation are the same. It is difficult to produce a very soft sound like PPP, and the midrange works well. High registers don’t sound good, so the effect is somewhat reduced.
It is effective if you add the sound in the low range so that it is heard more clearly than the melody.
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Contrabassoon, like Contrabass, focuses more on bass reinforcement. It is one octave lower than the Bassoon and can sound three degrees lower than the Contrabass.
Like the contrabass, it is a transposition instrument whose actual notes are played one octave lower than the notated notes. It has poor agility and quickness, and double and triple tonguing is difficult. Therefore, it is not suitable for strong drinks.
There is also an instrument called Subcontrabassoon, which is one octave lower than Contrabassoon.
Woodwinds Organization
Unlike strings, woodwind instruments each have a unique sound, so when put into an orchestra, the number of instruments is very small compared to strings.
Even in full orchestras, there are usually two or three groups per woodwind instrument, and sometimes four groups. For a chamber size, 1 to 2 units are sufficient.
If it is an orchestra piece that includes woodwind instruments, it is usually a large orchestra, so panning can be done according to the normal orchestra composition. Since most virtual instruments in an orchestra composition are recorded at a fixed location, panning is often pre-configured, so you don’t have to think about panning.
In a woodwind quartet or quintet, it is common for instruments responsible for the low range, such as the Bassoon, Horn, and Oboe, to be placed in the middle.
The remaining instruments are used in various ways, including left and right.
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